Preconceived Paving Plan for Loop Road Released

by Mac Blewer

"I know that the purpose and need is slanted. It is a summary of the proponents' view of the need."
- Bert McAuley, Federal Highway Administration, email to WOC, 4/13/98

After nearly six years of planning, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Loop Road construction project within the Shoshone National Forest.

The plan calls for paving and reconstructing 7.1 miles of the road, transforming it into a two-lane, 40-foot-wide asphalt highway with several massive retaining walls. This project will forever change the character of the road, increase the likelihood of serious accidents and exacerbate human impacts on a fragile environment. Public comments on the draft EIS opposed paving by four to one.

"This document confirms the public's worst fears about the Loop Road construction project," notes Scott Woodruff, chair of the Loop Road Citizens Committee. "It was preconceived by a handful of politicians and agency personnel who deceptively manipulated the FEIS to justify this pork-barrel paving project."

Dismissing a spot improvement alternative long advocated by WOC and the Loop Road Citizens Committee, as well as a lesser gravel and reconstruct alternative proposed by citizens, the FHWA chose a paving and reconstruct alternative as its preferred action.

Paving just 7.1 miles of the Loop Road will cost U.S. taxpayers more than $7 million, and maintaining it for the next two decades will cost Fremont County taxpayers approximately $80,000.

Among other things, the FHWA has:

• lowered projected maintenance costs to curry favor with Fremont County Commissioners, who eventually voted 3-2 in favor of the project;
  
  
• manipulated traffic estimates along the road, using an inflated 2.5% traffic-growth rate when the figures showed a 1.6% rate; and
  
  
• exaggerated safety concerns by cooking up a falsely premised "purpose and need" to justify the project.

"The plan is riddled with deficiencies," says Scott Woodruff. "However, the seven million dollar question is 'where's the pit'"?

If the Loop Road paving project goes forward, it will require a massive gravel pit, an action that the FEIS failed to consider. Comparing this project to the Sinks Canyon Highway project, the amount of gravel needed to reconstruct the road will be tremendous. The Sinks Canyon project, covering a shorter length of road, will require 4,900 truckloads - 281,000 tons - of gravel.

Asks Woodruff, "Will the gravel come from a newly constructed off-site gravel pit? Will it come from the planned gravel pit near the Central Wyoming College field station? Will it come from the forest? Over South Pass down 20 miles of dirt road? Will they use existing gravel pits outside of town and haul hundreds of thousands of tons of gravel through Lander? The noise, dust and safety issues that this raises for the community are huge."

Yet in its failure to consider the pit and its impacts, the FEIS suggests that such serious concerns don't matter.

The FHWA's record of decision is expected this spring. If the plan goes forward as drafted, it may only be a matter of time before the remaining 20 miles of the Loop Road in the Shoshone National Forest are also "improved," transforming it from a winding, scenic, dirt byway into a wide, paved highway. WOC will take all appropriate actions to stop this ill-conceived and unpopular roadbuilding project in our nation's first national forest.